Category: Recipes

Since I managed to pick up a little upper respiratory infection, I felt like I needed something that had my homemade chicken stock and a little spice to it this past weekend. The result of my tinkering in the kitchen was this soup! If you don’t like spice, you can remove the seeds your jalapenos & cut down on the chipotle. If you like more spice, add extra jalapeno! If tomatoes have too many carbs for your goals, just omit them. If limes have too many carbs for your goals, just use the zest. This is a very forgiving recipe, and I believe any recipe can be tweaked to work for you! Get creative in your kitchens!

Slow Cooker Low Carb High Fat Mexican Chicken Soup

Ingredients

6 cups of chicken stock (I prefer homemade, but you can use boxed if you don’t have any)

4 ribs of celery, chopped

1 onion, diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced (I like very flavorful food. if this is too much garlic for you, cut it down)

1 jalapeno, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes

2 Tbs chipotles in Adobo

zest & juice of a lime

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I roasted a whole chicken and used 3 cups of the meat from that)

Seasoning to taste- I used salt, pepper, garlic powder & cumin

Avocado, optional for topping

Whisps, optional for topping

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours. Top with fresh chopped cilantro, avocado + Whisps, if desired.

So…. getting an attractive photo of Broccoli Cheddar Soup proves to be a bit of a challenge- but I promise you- one taste of this soup will prove that looks aren’t everything!!

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken stock (I prefer homemade, but you can use canned or boxed)

5-6 broccoli crowns, cleaned and chopped

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic peeled and smashed

salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

8 oz cream cheese, softened

16 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Combine chicken stock, broccoli, onion, garlic, salt, pepper & garlic power in your slow cooker. Cook on high for 3 hours. (I let the cream cheese sit on top of the slow cooker during this process, so it’s super soft when I am ready to add it in.) After 3 hours, when the broccoli is tender, add the cream cheese and stir to combine. Add the shredded cheddar cheese and the heavy whipping cream, and process with an immersion blender to create a smooth soup. (If you prefer more texture to your soup, remove some of the broccoli, puree with the immersion blender, then add the reserved broccoli back in.)

You know those fascinating recipe videos on Facebook? I don’t know about you, but I can’t scroll by one of them without watching- and I saw one last week that really stopped me in my tracks, because it said low carb! WAHOO, right???? One of the recipes was for “low carb” Pad Thai. When they added honey, it kind of killed the low carb vibe for me. But I wanted low carb Pad Thai! That’s the place this recipe came from!

Now, listen, you may be a hardcore keto dieter, which means peanut butter and peanuts may not work for you. If so, that’s OK!! Omit both ingredients and it will still be delicious, or substitute almonds and almond butter if you want the crunch and texture. You can also cut down on the lime juice if you’re a macro calculator, and the amount of citrus worries you. Use your judgment on the water chestnuts and baby corns too- omit and add more broccoli and peppers if you know those things will throw you off. It will still be good!

1/2 green pepper, julienned (add more if you like cooked green pepper)

4-5 chopped green onions

1 can baby corn, drained

1 can water chestnuts, drained

Heat over to 400. Cut the spaghetti squash in half, scrape out seeds, then drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Bake at 400 for 40 minutes. When it’s done, cool, and scrape squash out into a large bowl.

While the squash is baking, prepare the marinade and sauce by combining all ingredients and mixing well. The marinade and sauce are almost identical, except the sauce has the addition of peanut butter and cilantro. I like to set 2 bowls side by side and make them at the same time, then just add the peanut butter and cilantro to the sauce.

Add the chicken thighs to the marinade and toss to coat. Set the sauce to the side. Heat your grill, and grill the marinated chicken until done. You can do the chicken on the stovetop, but I greatly prefer the flavor of grilled meat.

Meanwhile, stir-fry the veggies. Add the oils to a hot pan, then add the garlic, ginger, broccoli, green pepper, green onions, water chestnuts & baby corns. Stir-fry quickly, until just tender, then add sauce and toss to coat.

Cut grilled chicken into bite sized chunks and add to stir-fry mixture. Mix well to combine.

Serve atop a bed of spaghetti squash and ENJOY!

A quick note about one of my favorite kitchen tools, which is used a lot in this recipe!! I don’t sell Pampered chef, and I never have, but I love their products! I have a kitchen full of them. I do sell another kind of product, which you can see HERE if you’d like to. I am a passionate supporter of women – and men too- getting their side hustle on. I bet you know someone who sells Pampered Chef, and I encourage you to call them today and tell them you need a Pampered Chef Garlic Press.

I love mine so much, I actually have one brand new in a box on back-up. If something ever happens to this thing, I will be useless in my kitchen. It effortlessly crushes garlic- and if you make many of my recipes, you know I use a lot of garlic! Flavorless food is my nemesis. I also use it to crush ginger. You don’t have to peel the garlic or ginger! Just put it in and press it through!

It’ll change your life.

* This blog will occasionally utilize affiliate links, for which I receive credit. It doesn’t cause anyone to pay more for the item in question, but it helps me be able to create content for this site. You are in no way obligated to use my links, and I will only link to the exact products I use myself, to help you achieve the same results I achieve with my recipes.

Sprinkle the gelatine into the hot water and mix well. Set aside to allow it to soften, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, add 2.5 cups of heavy whipping cream to a medium saucepan (one with a pouring spout is ideal!). Add the Swerve. If you are making chocolate ice cream, add the cocoa powder as well. Whisk well to combine. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the heavy cream mixture, then place the vanilla bean itself into the mixture as well. (note- the vanilla goes in both the chocolate and vanilla recipes). Begin heating over medium heat.

While the heavy cream mixture begins to heat, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream to a large measuring cup with the 3 egg yolks, and mix well to combine.

Allow the heavy cream mixture to just come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Remove the vanilla beans and discard. Very slowly, whisking the whole time, add about a cup of the hot cream mixture to the cream & egg mixture. This step prevents your eggs from scrambling when you add them to the hot mixture- no one wants scrambled eggs in their ice cream! Once they are well combined, add all of the cream mixture back to the sauce pan.

Add the gelatine mixture to the cream mixture, after one final brisk stir to be sure there are no clumps in it. Mix well to combine, and allow the mixture to continue to heat over low heat until it thickens a bit, whisking gently the whole time.

Remove from the heat and add the extracts and the MCT oil. Whisk well to combine.

Place a piece of saran wrap directly on top of the cream mixture so that a skin does not form while it cools. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature. It takes several hours. Once it reaches room temperature, add the coarsely shopped chocolate and coconut. Mix well, then process in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer instructions.

Enjoy some at soft serve texture, and portion the rest into popsicle molds and freeze to enjoy later!

Life without pizza isn’t worth living, am I right? Listen… if you are as much of a connoisseur of pizza as I consider myself to be, don’t get your hopes up too high! This pizza is not the equivalent of one you’d get in New Haven, CT- the birthplace of both me and American pizza. But if you’re committed to a #SkinnyBitch lifestyle, this will help you survive without a real slice.

I did not create the recipe for the crust. You’ll find many variation of fathead dough online. I, as always, have played around with it until I have perfected the technique for myself. That is the method I will share with you!

Use the recipe below to make your crust- then top according to what YOU love. I find that things made with fathead dough get salty really fast, due to all the cheese. For this reason, I use plain Cento crushed tomatoes with a few cloves of garlic crushed into it as my sauce. If I use a prepared sauce, it just gets overwhelmingly salty. One large can of Cento crushed tomatoes will make about 4-6 pizzas, depending on how saucy you like your pizza. I crush the garlic into the can, mix around and then portion into 6 freezer bags. Then I take one out every time I’m going to make pizza.

Place the mozzarella and cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 60 seconds. Remove and mix to combine. Add the egg and mix well. Add the almond flour and mix to combine well.

Line a cookie sheet or pizza stone with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Wet your hands and press your dough into the desired shape onto the parchment paper. (You can get creative here! Make one circular pizza, or divide the dough into several rounds or squares if you want to make “sandwiches” or “tacos”.

Use a fork and poke hold all over the crust. If you’re making pizza, season with black pepper, garlic powder & Italian seasoning. No salt!! It’s salty enough!

Bake for 5 minutes, then poke holes again if air bubbles are forming. Bake for another 3 minutes or so until it is lightly browned on top. Remove from oven, and using the parchment paper, quickly flip the crust over. Remove the parchment paper and place back in the oven for 4 minutes or so to prevent having a soggy bottom on your crust. (Nobody likes a soggy bottom, am I right?) You don’t have to worry about it sticking to the cooking tray once the top has been baked.

Remove crust from oven. You can proceed to add your sauce, cheese & toppings immediately, then bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and toppings are cooked to your liking. Alternatively, you can save the crust on the counter or in the fridge to use later.

Now that I have noticeably visible results from following the low carb high fat way of eating since February, and I’m pretty vocal about it on social media, a lot of people ask me questions. I love it! I don’t always have the answers but I love to chat about the way of eating that has changed my waistline!

One question I get a lot is ,”Are you allowed to have a drink?”

First of all, I’m allowed to do whatever I want. This lifestyle is my choice. Secondly, I have found that having an occasional drink that is in line with the basic principles of this way of eating has not derailed my progress at all. See my previous post entitled The Sweet Spot for more on my thoughts about being regimental about a way of eating if it’s not required for your survival.

My two favorite things to drink are:

Dry red wine- Pinot Noir is my favorite, and I like to have glass of wine on the back porch on Friday night with Mark, listening to music while the kids play. They usually come and sit with us once it starts to get dark, and it’s a nice way for our family to kick off the weekend!

Pool Drink- this is my little creation that I drink at the pool. Full disclosure, I usually make more than a single recipe of it to sip on over the few hours we are at the pool, and put it in my favorite Corkcicle tumbler, which keeps it super cold the whole time. More full disclosure. Sometimes I make an extra in case anyone (coughmecough) needs a refill. I bring the extra in my Corkcicle canteen.

Pool Drink

Add the following ingredients into your container of choice, over ice. Shake or stir, and enjoy.

You can tweak this recipe in a number of ways. I have used flavored vodkas (raspberry is my favorite- be careful to check the carbs in flavored vodkas though!) Sometimes I also add a splash of raspberry extract to give it a raspberry lime flavor. If you experiment, I’d love to know what combos you come up with!

Let’s segue quickly into a few progress pics. We had family photos last week, and I can’t tell you how much more fun it is to do that when you feel confident & good about what you look like!

* This blog will occasionally utilize affiliate links, for which I receive credit. It doesn’t cause anyone to pay more for the item in question, but it helps me be able to create content for this site. You are in no way obligated to use my links, and I will only link to the exact products I use myself, to help you achieve the same results I achieve with my recipes

Weekends are the best, am I right? I’m lucky enough to LOVE my job, so it doesn’t stress me out that I work Monday through Friday- but weekends are still something to look forward to.

We are creatures of habit, and our routine is very predictable. We always grocery shop for the week on the weekend, and I prep all of the food we’ll eat in the upcoming week. Once the work is done, we like to pack up and spend a few hours at the pool. On Saturdays, when we get home, we like to grill a steak, and have an amazing dinner!

Ribeye is our favorite steak since we went low carb high fat. Mark has found a local butcher who has really good meat! (If you didn’t say “That’s what she said”, we can’t hang out…) Every few weeks, we’ll go get a bunch of ribeyes, and portion them into packs of 2 to freeze. 2 ribeyes are plenty for the two of us and Nicholas, and usually leaves a bit leftover for someone to have the next day!

If you want to try our weekend dinner, grab yourself some ribeye and grill it up, then serve it with these delicious Herbed Mushrooms and my AMAZING cauliflower mash. You can also add a salad or some roasted veggies. I challenge anyone who says changing to a low carb lifestyle leads to deprivation!

Ketogenic Herbed Mushrooms

16 ounces mushrooms, cleaned & sliced

1/4 cup butter

1/8 cup fresh thyme leaves

3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed

zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste (Salt carefully. This recipe reduces quite a bit, and the butter provides some salt which intensifies as it reduces)

Melt butter in a medium sized sautee pan over medium heat. Add thyme & garlic. Sautee for a minute or two, then add the rest of the ingredients. Toss to coat. Reduce heat to low & cover pan. Allow to cook until mushrooms have softened, then remove cover. Continue cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has reduced. Enjoy as a side dish or over steak.

Steam the cauliflower in the microwave until tender. I use the packages that can be steamed right in the bag. meanwhile, add the cream cheese, butter, all but 1 cup of the cheddar cheese, the chives, and seasonings to the bottom of a large bow, (I use my KitchenAid stand mixer.) When the cauliflower is steamed, add it on top of the other ingredients, and allow it to sit for a few minutes so that the heat of the cauliflower softens the rest of the ingredients. Begin to mix it at low speed to combine everything, then increase the speed a bit to help mash the cauliflower up a bit more and to be sure that everything is well combined. When everything is combined, pour into a greased baking dish and top with reserved cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, then enjoy!

The secret is the cream cheese! Cauliflower has a different, wetter consistency than potatoes, so when I was playing around with cauliflower mash recipes, I found that it was always so loose and watery when I used sour cream. The cream cheese has a firmer consistency and helps prevent runny cauliflower mash!

Get creative with this recipe! Add bacon, different cheeses, different herbs. We don’t even miss potatoes!